ve 120,000
men, without provisions, and, without some speedy successes, no
communications with the regions of supply or transportation! Now is
coming the time for the exercise of great generalship!

Gen. Early has been sent to the West--Tennessee.

MARCH 24TH.--Clear and very windy. The fear of utter famine is now
assuming form. Those who have the means are laying up stores for the day
of siege,--I mean a closer and more rigorous siege,--when all
communications with the country shall cease; and this makes the
commodities scarcer and the prices higher. There is a project on foot to
send away some thousands of useless consumers; but how it is to be
effected by the city authorities, and where they will be sent to, are
questions I have not heard answered. The population of the city is not
less than 100,000, and the markets cannot subsist 70,000. Then there is
the army in the vicinity, which _must_ be fed. I suppose the poultry and
the sheep will be eaten, and something like a pro rata distribution of
flour and meal ordered.

There is a rumor of a great victory by Gen. Johnston in North Carolina,
the taking of 4500 prisoners, 70 guns, etc.--merely a rumor, I am sure.
On the contrary, I apprehend that we shall soon have news of the capture
of Raleigh by Sherman. Should this be our fate, we shall soon have three
or four different armies encompassing us!

I tried in vain this morning to buy a small fish-hook; but could not
find one in the city. None but coarse large ones are in the stores. A
friend has promised me one--and I can make _pin-hooks_, that will catch
minnows. I am too skillful an angler to starve where water runs; and
even minnows can be eaten. Besides, there are eels and catfish in the
river. The water is always muddy.

MARCH 25TH.--Clear and cool.

It is reported that Grant is reinforcing Sherman, and that the latter
has fallen back upon Goldsborough. This is not yet confirmed by any
official statement. A single retrograde movement by Sherman, or even a
delay in advancing, would snatch some of his laurels away, and enable
Lee to obtain supplies. Yet it may be so. He may have been careering the
last month on the unexpended momentum of his recent successes, and
really operating on a scale something more than commensurate with the
forces of his command. Should this be the case, the moral effect on our
people and the army will be prodigious, and a series of triumphs on our
side may be the consequence.

The No